Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/376

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XL APRIL 17, im

of the instrument, and extends up the middle about two-fifths of the length of the body of it.

I can only guess that the bat was, at some time, primarily, an emblem of a sergeant's office, and, secondarily, used for the infliction of chastisement on clumsy or disorderly recruits ; and perhaps it was equivalent . to the Priigel of German armies, with which sergeants drove lagging warriors into the fray.

But is there any record of such an accoutre- ment as being that of a sergeant in the British army ? and what was the purpose of the loose strip, unless it was to cause the blow administered to resound as much as to hurt, as does the wand of Harlequin in a booth ? ARTHUR DENMAN, F.S.A.

29, Cranley Gardens, S.W.

[See the references to the Highlander ante, p. 305.1

HOLT CASTLE. There is an old house called Holt Castle in Worcestershire, which has the remains of a Norman keep about it, and a few Plantagenet rooms, and a decent modern house in connexion with the said rooms. What is the history of it ? Was it ever held by a powerful family, or be- sieged or destroyed ? Holt Castle is on the banks of the Severn, about six miles from Worcester, and is the property of the Earl of Dudley, held in connexion with the Witley estate. TERTIUS.

AUTHOR OF QUOTATION WANTED. Where do the lines " Dutton slew Dutton ; Venables with Venables did contend," &c. or words similar occur (in reference to the divisions of families in the Commonwealth wars) ? I fancy in Ormerod's ' History of Cheshire,' but cannot find them. If not in that work, would some reader repeat the verse con- taining them ? J. R.

SHAIRP AND MORDAUNT FAMILIES. I am trying to trace the links connecting my great-grandmother Ann Bromley Mordaunt, who married Major William Shairp about 1772, with the Peterborough family. She is described in the birth certificate of her son, my grandfather, Major Wm. Shairp of Kirkton, N.B., as being the daughter of Charles and Ann Mordaunt. She was a minor at the date of her marriage, and was presumably an orphan, for she was then "seised in fee simple or fee tail in posses- sion " of property in Bread Street, E.C., in Brentford, Rochester, and Gillingham, Kent.

The Marquis de Ruvigny in his ' Plan- tagenet Roll of the Blood Royal ' shows the descent of the Earls of Peter-

borough from Lionel, Duke of Clarence, brother of Kings Edward IV. and Richard III

I have always understood that on the death of the last Earl of Peterborough, when his title became dormant or extinct, my grandfather claimed to be next of kin through his mother to the deceased peer. There are one or two links wanting to connect his mother's father Charles Mor- daunt with the Peterborough pedigree, and I shall be much obliged if any of your readers can give me information as to the parentage of Charles Mordaunt, or advise me how to trace it out.

STUART COURTENAY SHAIRP.

1, Marlboro' Gate, Hyde Park, W.

JAMES BURNEY, PORTRAIT PAINTER. I am anxious to obtain the dates of the birth and death of James Burney, the father of Charles Burney, and of his two marriages.

G. F. R. B.

SPENCER COWPER, JUSTICE OF THE COM- MON PLEAS. When and at what Inn of Court was he admitted, and when was he called ? The article in the ' D.N.B.' throws no light on these points. G. F. R. B.

SIR ARTHUR HESILRIGE. Can any corre- spondent give me the date of Hesilrige's birth ? The ' D.N.B.' is silent on this point. Did he sit for Newcastle in the Parliament of 1654 ? His return is given in the Official List of Members of Parliament (vol. i. 501), but there is no mention of it in the ' D.N.B.' article. G. F. R. B.

FECAMP ABBEY : BREDE MANOR. Would MR. ROBERT PIERPOINT, who wrote some time ago about Fecamp Abbey, a propos of " benedictine," kindly say if he knows whether the MSS. belonging to the abbey, which he says were preserved at the time of the Revolution, are now in existence, and if so, where ? I am interested in the manor of Brede in Sussex, which at the time of Domesday Survey was ' ' appurtenant to the Abbey of Fecamp, and included the ports of Rye and Winchelsea. This manor later became the property of the Oxen- bridges, but I do not know when.

A. L. F.

ST. AMELIA AND SANTA GUGLIELMA, QUEENS OF HUNGARY. I have come across the name of the former in a catalogue wherein her portrait is described as a most beautiful engraving by P. Mercuri after Paul Delaroche. A queen of Hungary of that name is unknown, and she is not mentioned in any one of the sixty ancient Hungarian